4 - Sunday, March 10, 1985 - North Share News Mining megatrend has a certain amount of historical interest TT: collapse of the miners’ strike in the U.K. beyond its immediate impact on the labor movement in Britain or what it means in terms of the political fortunes of Ms. Margaret Thatcher. Even though you’d hardly know it in British Columbia, mining is still the Number 2 industry, isn’t it? Surely the disaster of northeastern coal — if that’s what it turns out to be — is bound to have repercussions on us all. Mining executives — and miners themselves, you can be sure — are dismayed. . Slump has followed slum;z. with. 10 intervening boon:. With gold: plunging instead’ . of takirg off for the skies (as certain experts confidently predicted), with copper, lead, zinc and silver all at abysmal price levels, a lot of mines are approaching the point where they can’t opereate profi tably any more. Look at some of the giants who have already caved in. Placer closed its molybdenum mine at En- dako. Noranda and Teck are “oughts’’ and ‘‘shoulds”’ and ‘‘ifs’? to face. The viability of the B.C, Rai! spur line, among other things, is at stake. Japanese shareholders ae uneasy. The dotiom line for B.C.’s mining industry is the threat of losing out in a struggfe for a new world economic order. It’s not that the dollar value of raw materials is changing so. dramatically as it is that the resource market is getting kind of crowded, with some bona fide new heavyweights entering the field. In all of this, Canada —- but par- ticularly B.C. — stands to fall behind. Late fast year, Business Week Magazine practically wrote the obituary on min- ing. It’s not just Canadian in retreat. And even mighty -: ae Amax gave up at its Kistauit-.. site — much to the relief of ” locals, mostly Indians, whose *. fishing. grounds were being © ‘contaminated, .. * The poi ant is, By c.. S irap- | ped in a bad situation. The Socreds have perhaps staked their political -lives. on” the. boon of northeastern ‘coal, which, if ‘everything. had -: : worked perfectly,;would have, hoisted the economy up by its © own bootstraps: By . bicom- tag a major. coal exporter, B.C. should. have been in’a . nice spot from. which:to fi ght the energy wars of, the: com.” ing years, ~ When the Bulimoos e “and: Quintette coal fields: reach - full production, they- ought:: to. be able to; generate $1": ‘pillion a year... But, ‘there . are all those Alan Keely Cap's close to home. It’s small. It’s a good place to learn. lle a mines that are in trouble. The 10 largest American mines lost nearly $2 billion last year. Almost two-thirds of the continent’s miners have been laid off. Why? We may be caught in a megatrend, witnessing the shift of the production and processing of raw materials away from the industrialized countries to developing Third World nations like Chile, which will soon be the world’s largest copper pro- ducer, and Brazil, where the biggest iron ore mine in the world is gearing up for production. ft is an ironic reverberation from the world debt pro- blem, triggered by greedy Western bankers. Desperate Third World countries have virtually no choice but to sell copper or iron or anything See page 5 WEST VANCOUVER | SECONDARY SCHGOL ‘Students, prepare yourselves for the future by enrolling at West Vancouver Secondary Schoot.for “PACIFIC RIM STUDIES” ‘Learn Japanese and/or know: more about Mandarin, the ‘history, ‘ Geogr aphy, culture and economics of acific:Rim countries. Enrol now ':for.” September, 822: 3931. M. Bartlett Hike the whole atmosphere and the teachers. The instructors are great. ness ampaign 1985 by phoning PORE 2. A. Bhangi I like the small Classes. If there are any difficulties you can ask the teacher, and they can explain to you because of the small classes. HOME FURNISHINGS Warehouse/Showroom OPEN TO THE PUBLIC (2 biks. behind the Avalon) Gino Fera $800 GRANT IS Call me at 253-7511 For free, expert, honest advice on oif to gas conversion. at 1075 Roosevelt Cres.. N.Van. 9-9 Fri 12:4 Sun 900-8738 FERA HEATING & AIR-CONDITIONING. “99% of our customers are recommended to us” oe ene “EUROPEAN TAN NING STUDIOS | Look Good! Feel Good! It’s Simple. f and our super suntanning beds make it soo-ooo relaxing : S 49 iO visits plus one 86900 one month use $600 single visit 134 E.15th., North Vancouver 985-3207 Dave Jesson Facilities for computers at Capilano College are excellent. Many courses are related to the job’scene at. the present. time, and in this day and age students need all the help they can get. Jonathan Peyton Pm going to be employed. My whole Capilano College program has been extremely valuable because it’s given me a new carecr. Have you had your Funtan today? Connie Olsen Capilano College teachers are under- standing — very helpful. They seem to really know what they're doing. Expertise; you could say that. SPONSORED BY THE CAPILANO FACULTY ASSOCIATION.